Welcome to Common Gunsense

I hope this blog will provoke some thoughtful reflection about the issue of guns and gun violence. I am passionate about the issue and would love to change some misperceptions and the culture of gun violence in America by sharing with readers words, photos, videos and clips from articles to promote common sense about gun issues. Many of you will agree with me- some will not. I am only one person but one among many who think it's time to do something about this national problem. The views expressed by me in this blog do not represent any group with which I am associated but are rather my own personal opinions and thoughts.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monday, June 7, 2010

Making it easy for criminals to have guns

For years now, those of us involved in the movement to prevent gun injuries and deaths have understood that the ATF is working under inadequate funding and conditions. Congress has underfunded the agency and passed laws to make them darn near ineffective. Why? You know the answer-the NRA. The influence and the effectiveness of the NRA has all but shut down any common sense measures to curb bad apple gun dealers, to stop illegal trafficking, to stop felons, domestic abusers, mentally ill folks and others from getting guns and to require safety features to make guns in the home less likely to go off accidentally. Shame on us. Congress, in particular, is bought and paid for by the NRA. Very few are brave enough to stand up to the powerful lobbying group- no backbone.

Here is one article that exposes a bad apple gun dealer in Wisconsin and the lack of oversight by the ATF by design of our friends in Congress. The dealer's license was revoked in 2007, but because there is a legal action pending, he has been allowed to continue to sell guns even though he has violated many ATF rules. Meanwhile, there is evidence that criminals purchase guns from this dealer while the case is pending. So much for keeping guns away from criminals! Thank you NRA for allowing criminals to buy guns. The hypocrisy of saying that you don't want criminals to have guns but you also don't want to stop them from getting their guns is becoming dangerous. What we need is for a public temper tantrum about this national problem. I'll be waiting.

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Comments are allowed but are moderated for civility and decency. My blog is intended to change public opinion about the gun debate and all readers will not agree with me. No comments that demean, debase, attack, call names, or are generally impolite, rude and offensive will be published. In general, comments that are "snarky", mean, overly aggressive or harassing will not be published. Keep the language clean and respectful. Anonymous commenters are not allowed on this blog. Thanks to my readers for participating.